Sagra del Polentone di Molare
Molare's most-loved sagra: three late-August evenings of Pro Loco cooking in Piazza Dario Pesce that build to the scodellamento — a huge cauldron of polenta tipped steaming onto a long wooden table for the whole valley to share.
Why it's special
The scodellamento is the moment people wait twelve months for — master polentari pouring the finished polenta out over a long board — but the sagra is also three nights of village cooking, live music and the StraMolare road race through the streets.
Programme · 2025
Three evenings of Pro Loco cooking in Piazza Dario Pesce, closing with the famous scodellamento — the polenta tipped steaming onto a long wooden table.
- Sunday's scodellamento late in the afternoon is the photo moment — get near the table before it starts.
- The Pro Loco kitchens are in Piazza Dario Pesce; come hungry, the polenta comes plain or with ragù, mushroom or gorgonzola.
The Sagra del Polentone is the sagra Molare waits all year for. For three evenings in late August the Pro Loco kitchens take over Piazza Dario Pesce, and the whole thing builds to the scodellamento: the master polentari tip an enormous cauldron of finished polenta out onto a long wooden table, in clouds of steam, for everyone to share. It's the moment the crowds — and the cameras — turn up for.
There's more to it than the polenta. The festival opens on the Friday with the StraMolare, a road race through the village, and each night brings dinner and live music, with a younger-crowd evening and a DJ set along the way. Sunday adds a craft and artisan fair in the afternoon before the polenta is served — plain or dressed with ragù, mushroom sauce or gorgonzola — alongside ravioli, sausage and grilled meats.
The 2025 edition ran on 22–24 August; in 2024 it was 23–25 August. Dates land on a late-August weekend each year — check the comune site or VisitOvada nearer the time. See Molare for the rest of the Orba valley, and pair it in autumn with the Castagnata di Battagliosi.